April 27/09 10:55 am - Roswell Downtown Criterium, Bell 3rd

Posted by on 04/27/09

April 26th

Unlike the start of the Athens Twilight Criterium, Brooke Miller's aggressive riding led to her getting into a break that stuck at the Historic Roswell Criterium Sunday. The result was a reversal of the top two places from the night before, with Miller taking 2nd place to another top notch sprinter, Tina Pic (Colavita/Sutter Home).

"Unlike last night in Athens, the race didn't quite go according to plan today," said team directeur sportif Jeff Corbett. "It's not like tonight was a bad night. But, more often than not, races don't go like they did last night."

For Roswell, rather than being aggressive from the start, the plan was to sit back a bit more for the first half of the race before animating things during the second half. That part went to plan. For the first part, Colavita/Sutter Home was the main aggressor but Team TIBCO was diligent in chasing down moves, and for the first half of the race, the bunch stayed together.

At the race's mid-point, the plan was to use a mid-race prime to launch Lauren Tamayo. Brooke Miller won the prime, and when things settled momentarily, Lauren took off. When she was caught, TIBCO's Joanne Kiesanowski countered. When she was caught, Miller put in an acceleration that caused a separation in the field. Unfortunately, Tamayo and Kiesanowski were caught up behind some gapped riders and missed what turned into a nine-rider break containing both Brooke and Meredith Miller for Team TIBCO, but also the race's other top sprinters, including Pic, Jen McCrae (Team Type 1) and Laura Van Gilder (Mellow Mushroom).

"The intention wasn't to get me in a break," Brooke Miller said. "We didn't like the make-up of the break and we didn't want it to stick, so Meredith and I didn't work."

But there was still enough horsepower in the break to make it stick, and not enough organization in the peloton to bring it back. So as the laps counted down, the likelihood of a sprint among the break members became higher.

In an attempt to pre-empt the sprint, Meredith Miller attacked on the rise on the backside of the course on the final lap.

"We thought that maybe the sprinters would hesitate a bit to see who would chase her and maybe she could use that to slip away," Corbett said. "But everyone was sharp and they were straight on her."

This pretty much guaranteed that it would be a small bunch kick. The finishing straight was a 300-meter, slightly uphill drag into a headwind. Brooke Miller took this into consideration as she headed toward the final corner.

"I expected it to be a patient sprint," she said. "I didn't think it was possible to go from the final corner and hold it to the line. I was a couple wheels behind Tina. She attacked from the last corner. I went with 100 meters to go. She started to fade at 50 meters to go and I was closing the gap, but I needed another 25 meters and I would've taken it."

Instead, she had to settle for 2nd by half a wheel to Pic, who won this race for the 6th time in her career.

"The team raced really well," Miller said. "It was a hard race. It just didn't quite work out."

Meredith Miller came across in 8th place, and Tamayo and Kiesanowski finished 2nd and 3rd in the bunch sprint from the peloton, giving them 12th and 13th for the race.

With her 2nd place, plus bonus points earned both at Athens and Roswell, Brooke Miller retained her overall lead in the USA Crits Speed Week series.

Rickards take 7th at Dana Point but Team TIBCO takes casualties

Emma Rickards earned 7th place at Sunday's Dana Point Grand Prix, but her result was overshadowed by injuries to two of her teammates – Alison Rosenthal and Rushlee Buchanan – in a mid-race crash in the peloton. Rosenthal sustained road rash to one of her sides but was otherwise okay. However Buchanan sustained a broken wrist and is expected to be sidelined from riding on the road for up to six weeks, though she'll be able to ride the trainer during that period.

"I didn't see what happened as I had just gone off the front in a break of five or six," Rickards said. "We came around the final corner toward the start/finish line and they slowed us down then stopped us, as they were clearing the wreck. I didn't see Rush or Ali and I got a bit worried."

Ten minutes later, they restarted the race, but with the break re-integrated into the peloton. "The race officials couldn't verify the gap or the members of the break so they decided to restart everyone together," Rickards explained.

At that point, she knew she was on her own. "The race was very aggressive," Rickards said. "Colavita and Webcor took turns attacking. The last part of the race I just tried to cover moves. I was in good position coming into the final turn, sitting second wheel but I didn't have a good line for the sprint."